Forgiveness
by Glitter and Kisses
Summary: It would be a whole week after the kidnapping before Mokuba would speak coherently. Yet somehow, he chose not to hate Bakura. Reconstruction occurs. Intentshipping Bakura/Mokuba, YAOI, IMPLIED NONCON THROUGHOUT


**A/N** **(please** **read)**: In the Japanese version of the anime, Bakura wants the KaibaCorp passwords and that's why Bakura wanted Mokuba's body back in DK. It makes no sense, but the following story plays with that idea. It is implied that the passwords would help attain the Millennium Items. Zork will stop at nothing to retrieve these items, and that's the only reason Bakura goes so far to get them. It's not in Bakura's character to; he's still a human with self-respect.

**Warnings: Implied brutal statutory rape, dark/disturbing, discussion of incest. Yaoi (boy x boy). TRIGGER WARNING for rape.**

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><p><span>Forgiveness<span>

_Pay no mind to the rabble; head down, go to sleep._

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><p>It would be a whole week after the kidnapping before Mokuba would speak coherently, and even then, he would spend the days in his room crying, though he would never let anyone see him doing so. He wouldn't allow anyone to touch him, not even Seto, whose face had been vivid in his mind throughout the entire ordeal. It was the only thing that prevented him from surrendering the passwords, though had he simply relinquished them, he would not have been in such a horrid state.<p>

Of course, the Yuugi-tachi visited to comfort the poor child.

"Girls only," instructed Seto immediately, pointing at Shizuka and Anzu. Jou asked Shizuka if she was sure about this. She nodded, and Anzu took her by the hand.

Mokuba was curled up in bed, facing the girls, eyes still red. He was wearing a loose robe, the only thing that would hide the bandages and bitemarks on his body without hurting him. Shizuka went to hug Mokuba, but Anzu held her back. "He doesn't want to be touched," whispered Anzu, as though Mokuba couldn't hear. Shizuka took a step back and sat down.

"How are you, sweetie?"

"I'm fine," insisted Mokuba, as always. "Really, I'm fine. I'm _fine._" He forced himself to sit up and slowly put his bare feet on the cold floor. Anzu and Shizuka held their breaths as Mokuba staggered to the side of the room and knelt down, face over the trash can. He held his hair back and vomited what little he had in his stomach. Without looking, he took a handful of tissues and cleaned her face, before turning to his visitors. "You'll have to forgive me."

The routine would follow that the girls would sit in a silence that was rarely broken, the unspoken situation overwhelming their spirits. And Mokuba would try to be strong.

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><p>Seto would sit expressionlessly in the living room, his sheer presence limiting the conversation that needed to be held. The silence in Mokuba's room would be paralleled, with small talk ricocheting between the boys who didn't dare hurt the aching Seto. They had never seen him so broken, and it pained them even more.<p>

It never took long before Ryou's name was spoken, and Seto became livid. In his defense stood Jonouchi, blaming the ring, while even Yami insisted that it was a bit far for the spirit of the ring. Otogi once confirmed, citing Ryou, who had claimed a remorseful and confused presence for the ring, his sentence cut short by Honda's text.

An argument arose that day, in which Seto's barriers involved the phrases "dishonored the Kaiba name" and "stock value will drop." Jou reminded him that Mokuba had refused to give up the passwords the entire time, and that he had survived bravely.

Jou left early that day, seething from Kaiba's insults, and took over Honda's shift at Ryou's.

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><p>It had been a week, but it didn't get any easier. Not easy at all, thought Honda, as he watched Ryou staring expressionlessly at his hands. The white-haired boy had barely eaten. He spent his days just sitting on the couch, wallowing in his emptiness, sometimes crying. He had attempted to hurt himself many times, but there was always someone on shift to make sure he didn't.<p>

"You sure you'll be alright?" asked Honda.

Ryou smiled his usual smile. "I'll be fine. Thank you for keeping me company."

"Remember what I told you," said Honda. "You're a wonderful person and we all love you, man. You can make it through this."

"I'll be fine," repeated Ryou. "I promise."

Honda silently prayed that Otogi or someone else was hurrying on their way. He had to leave.

And so he did.

By the time Jou arrived, Ryou had been on the floor for a solid ten minutes, the extra sleeping pills strewn across the kitchen counter.

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><p>The news, though not so surprising, shook the group.<p>

Otogi hung up and faced Yami and Seto.

"He tried to kill himself."

"Shame it didn't work," said Seto. Yami and Otogi flinched. They knew his pain, and understood where he was coming from, so they didn't comment.

"I'm going to kill him anyways," continued Seto.

"Please, Kaiba," said Yami softly. "He is hurting just as much as you."

"Not as much as Mokuba," snapped Seto. "You haven't seen him." His emotions were pushing at his chest like overflowing water in a dam. He didn't trust himself to speak, and buried his face in his hands.

Yami put a hand on Kaiba's shoulder. "I'm so sorry for both of you."

Otogi had never seen Seto broken like this. It troubled him to no end. "Yeah, man, I'm sorry about this. I can't say it enough."

"Sorry doesn't fix anything," said Kaiba, not so rudely this time. He was trying so hard to keep his pride.

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><p>Jou paced back and forth in the waiting room of the hospital. He <em>knew<em> Ryou should not have been left alone. Of course the boy would take the blame, he was so used to having the deal with the messes the Spirit put him through. He only wished that the situation had been more black and white, with one person to love and one person to hate.

"Jou!"

A very flustered Mai Kujaku burst through the door in a relatively revealing outfit, followed by Otogi.

"Mai! Otogi! Thanks so much for coming." Jou warmly embraced them both.

The question was lingering in the air.

"He's being taken care of," said Jou. "He should be fine."

"Fine." It was the greatest lie known to man. Alive was one thing. Fine was another.

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><p>The conversations between Mokuba, Anzu, and Shizuka slowly became more positive. Mokuba rarely spoke about what actually happened, partially because he wasn't ready to materialize it, and partially because he didn't want to impose the details on such nice girls. He always made them leave when he took his dose of narcotics.<p>

"We don't mind staying even if you're loopy," offered Anzu.

"No. I don't want you around. Last time it got out of control. I guess I hallucinated and went back there, and I could _feel_ him." He began to shake. "Even after it was over I still could and I… I asked Seto to get rid of it." He bit his lip. "Isn't that disgusting?"

Anzu and Shizuka looked at each other in horror. To think that it had been so bad that Mokuba would have resorted to his own _brother_… They knew the Kaibas were close, but…

"No, no sweetheart!" Anzu reached out a hand, but then stopped, remembering not to touch Mokuba. "You're just in a bad place right now, it's not something that would have happened under normal circumstances, I mean I'm sure he still only thinks of you as a brother…"

Mokuba shook his head. "No, no, we didn't. He flat out refused. I was mad at first but then I knew it was for my own good. I can't believe I even asked! I just wanted the feeling to go away, but what is wrong with me?"

"You're so brave," said Shizuka quietly, heart breaking as Mokuba's last bit of pride was shattered, and he cried in front of them.

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><p>It was only Seto and Yami now.<p>

"Seto, I understand your anger against Ryou, but I am asking you to please understand his position," insisted Yami. "This is not easy on any of us, as both he and Mokuba are our friends."

"FRIENDS?" spat Seto. "That schizophrenic freak brutally RAPED my brother and you care about your stupid friendship?"

He had said it. It hung in the air like the stench of a rotting corpse.

"I was there," said Yami quietly. "I'm the one who broke it up."

"He was screaming," said Seto. It was a question without a question mark. "I'm sure he enjoyed it, didn't he? Did he _like_ hearing him scream?"

Seto would never be able to get the sound and images from his head. By the time Seto had arrived at the scene, half an hour had passed. Ryou had been clawing himself bloody until Honda knocked him out. Mokuba was still screaming uncontrollably.

"I didn't give him the passwords," was the first thing he had said, before resuming his hysteria.

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><p>"You should have let me die," said Ryou plainly from the hospital bed he was so accustomed to. The Yuugi-tachi watched him bitterly, wishing his self-hate would disappear.<p>

"It's not your fault," insisted Jou.

Ryou begged to differ.

Without warning, his eyes closed and his body began writhing on the bed. A golden glow emitted from under his shirt. Yami's puzzle glowed for an instant, and Ryou stopped moving. Ryou woke up, screaming.

"Get the Ishtars here, NOW!" shouted Yami.

Ryou wouldn't calm down until Malik burst through the door and held him, head against chest, stroking white hair, whispering words of comfort, kissing away the tears. It was a pitiful sight.

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><p>Seto and Mokuba paid a visit to Ryou. It was not pleasant but it needed to be done. Mokuba was very nervous, as was Ryou. Seto remained expressionless until Ryou opened the door with a faint smile and invited them inside.<p>

Before Mokuba could take a step, Seto's hands were on Ryou's neck. "Did you enjoy it?" he hissed. "Did you?" He shook the boy violently. Ryou did nothing. He slammed Ryou against the door. Jonouchi tackled Kaiba before any further damage could be done.

"It's not your fault," whispered Mokuba.

Ryou looked at his hands, not so sure. "It was my body. My hands had your blood on them."

Two hearts were breaking.

"Don't you DARE kill yourself," Mokuba whispered. "If I have to live through this, so do you. You don't get to make everyone suffer the way Niisama suffered when I was hurt." The bitterness was undeniable, but unavoidable, judging the age of the victim.

"…thank you."

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><p>It only took one look at Mokuba's face for Bakura to remember the child he had once been, how utterly destroyed he was when he saw his village incinerated. He wondered if he had done the same to Mokuba. He stared at his nails, feeling Mokuba's skin beneath them.<p>

He had to give the boy credit, it wasn't easy for him to face Bakura. It wasn't easy for Bakura to answer Mokuba's questions, either. He had to look inside, remember who he was and draw the line between Zork and himself. He didn't know whether to blame Zork, or himself, or the Pharaoh.

Either way, it was never in his character to ask for forgiveness, so he didn't.

Mokuba walked away without giving it to him.

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><p>It was a cold December morning that Mokuba went to visit him, and told Bakura he wanted to begin the New Year fresh.<p>

"It doesn't mean we have to be friends, or even like each other," said Mokuba. "But I want to let go and move forward with my life."

The conversation lasted longer than it should have, and he told Bakura about Gozaburo, the last thing he had let go of. He asked Bakura who his Gozaburo was. He must have had one.

The idea of forgiveness hung unspoken and unsatisfied in the air.

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><p>The nervousness never went away, no matter how many times he'd done this. He knocked at the door. Bakura always knew it was for him, not Ryou and wondered why Mokuba even bothered to visit. Especially after what he'd done.<p>

After everything he'd done.

"Why do you always look upset?" asked Mokuba. "You're like Nii-sama."

"I'm _nothing_ like him!" snapped Bakura immediately. He didn't want to be associated with the High Priest, not in any way.

"You know what your problem is?" Mokuba rested his head on his forearms. "No one cares about you. No one smiles for you."

Bakura sneered. "You're not as innocent as you look, manipulating your brother like that."

"It's not manipulation. It's for his own good. He'll go crazy. Like you."

Bakura wanted to snap back, but all he knew was, Mokuba just may have been right.

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><p>"Why do you still come here?" snapped Bakura finally. "You should hate me, you rich little brat. You should want me dead!"<p>

"I don't hate you," said Mokuba firmly, with more conviction than a boy his age should have. (Bakura always saw a little of himself in Mokuba, the little boy who grew up too early. Like his brother, only it was difficult to notice in Mokuba unless one knew him well.) "Yes, I'm upset over what happened but hate doesn't get anyone anywhere. It only causes more destruction."

"You are trying to reconstruct something that was never there," snorted Bakura, but inside something stirred.

"I'm not trying to reconstruct a relationship. I'm trying to reconstruct _you_."

"WHY?" roared Bakura. "Why in Hell would you do that?"

"Because it's what I do," shrugged Mokuba. "I do it for Nii-sama every day. Besides, you need it."

"Why don't you speak like this in front of those mortals. I bet they would like this side of you. You're nowhere near as innocent as you pretend to be."

"All for Nii-sama," smiled Mokuba in his childish pretense.

…

...

/ceremonial duel

…

-\magic

…

(ten years)

…

…

_It's nights like these, when the age-old moon shines into the room and Mokuba sits wordlessly at the window, that Bakura ask himself how he could have accepted to live as Zork. He counts the years he has been human again, using all ten fingers, watching the raven-haired beauty with almost-guilt. The light dances on Mokuba's faded scars, and Bakura wonders if they ever still hurt. Sometimes Mokuba catches Bakura looking at him from the bed, and he turns and smiles inquisitively._

"_Go back to sleep," Bakura whispers in vain, and finally gets out of bed himself. "Step away from the window." Mokuba's eyelashes flutter downwards softly as Bakura captures his lips over and over again in languorous kisses, before Mokuba forgets about the moon and follows him back. They fall asleep, fingers tangled in each other's hair, and Bakura remembers he's been forgiven._

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><p>Fin<p>

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><p>AN: The only reason I'm okay with this is because Zork was the one who pushed Bakura to hurt Mokuba, so Mokuba didn't end up with the perpetrator. And he made something constructive out of something completely destructive It sickens me when that happens IRL; I never see rape as a legitimate way to start a relationship... That's why it's fanfiction. Because IRL I'd want Bakura behind bars, Zork or not, and Mokuba in therapy. (Yeah, super nervous about posting this.)


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